Self-adhesive sticky notes (e.g., Post-it® Notes) are found in homes, offices, classrooms, and other work locations around the world. In common embodiments, such notes comprise a paper sheet with a stripe of adhesive on the back face. Typically the adhesive stripe is located at one edge of the note. In some embodiments, the adhesive stripe is located near the middle of the back face of the note.
Self-adhesive sticky notes are typically sold in stacks or pads in which overlying notes are adhered to underlying notes by the adhesive on the back face of the overlying note. The bottom most note is commonly adhered to a removable back sheet.
To increase the strength with which a self-adhesive note sticks to a desired surface, so-called “full adhesive” notes have been introduced. The back face of such notes is substantially completely covered with adhesive, but for one or more corner portions or an edge stripe which is free of adhesive to facilitate grasping and removal of the top most note from the pad. One illustrative commercial embodiment is a pad of about 25 to about 30 notes with a nominal 3 inch square (7.7 cm) format in which the entire back side of each note is covered with adhesive except for a single stripe having a width of about ⅜ inch (0.9 cm) along one edge.
One common dispenser format for self-adhesive sticky notes is to remove the back sheet, if any, and adhere the bottom most note to a selected location (e.g., a flat panel, note book cover, etc.). In simplest approach, pads may be stuck directly to flat surfaces such as the cover of a notebook computer, notebook cover, divider panel in a notebook, or work surface. In some instances, a dispenser is used which comprises a flat receiving panel to which pad is self-adhered. In some instances, the area of the receiving panel is surrounded, at least in part, by one or more upright panels or walls to protect the pad from lateral impacts and other unwanted wear and tear.
A challenge with paper-based full adhesive notes is that under humid conditions the paper sheets tend to absorb moisture from the ambient air. Such absorption causes some dimensional distortion of each sheet, causing the pad to curl. Typically the pad will tend to shift from an initially flat configuration to curl toward the adhesive-coated back side. Such curling tends to cause the pad to disengage from the surface on which the pad is mounted, leading to its loss or damage, inconvenience, mess, etc.
The need exists for assemblies for dispensing full adhesive notes from pads on which the note pads will remain securely mounted.